Opinion

The Vallejo area has its share of sunken ship stories, including a Navy destroyer rusting away in Napa River mud north of town and the submerged hulk of a massive ferryboat, once used to haul entire trains, to the south in Carquinez Strait.

Home burglaries are beginning to seem a little too commonplace in Vallejo and its surrounding area as of late. In May of last year, after just moving into a new home in the Glen Cove neighborhood near Benicia State Park, my girlfriend and I came home to find our new dwelling completely ransacked.

I thought Trace Cullen’s letter to the editor (Feb. 25, “An Orcem explanation”) regarding the need for a deep water port in Vallejo was interesting. It made me ask myself, is there really a need for another deep water port on San Francisco Bay? To help answer this question, I went to the experts, in this case the organization responsible for managing the Bay, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), the organization that must approve the re-construction of such a port.

Michael Haworth’s “Science has spoken” reply to Jack King’s letter, “Avarice” provided an array of scientific studies and findings from the world’s première scientists and exploratory research organizations such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association that measure and predict the consequences of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

I wrote recently of the plight of under-developed countries around the world (focusing mainly on Africa) being blocked from meaningful development by the left and the machinations of the modern environmental movement.

The storm of protest of the cement/marine terminal seems to have leveled out in easily predicted positions. That is not to say that sanity has arrived. Only that the one side has used every arrow in its arsenal, only to find out that the other side has been able to respond with calm logic and reason.

Last night my husband and I went to the movies and arrived early enough to sit through 20 minutes of previews — 20 minutes of horror. No wonder our society is plagued by corruption, violence and shootings.

Many of you were kind enough to come down to the Georgia Street Townhouse Lounge last year to help me celebrate my birthday on St. Patrick’s Day — March 17. As you may remember, I was behind the bar and all of my tips went to downtown beautification.

Regarding Mr. Haworth’s latest attempt to shill for the applicants looking to build a polluting slag mill and aggregate transfer eyesore at the entrance to our waterfront (March 11, “Errors on both sides”): We can at least agree with his statement that logic is taking a beating here.

To letter writer Jack King, and anyone else with the patience to follow this thread: I agree with most of Michael Haworth’s letters to the Times-Herald and San Francisco Chronicle, but vehemently disagree with his stance on Orcem.

I previously wrote a letter following the shooting in Las Vegas regarding gun control. The letter was ignored and no comments or follow-ups were noted. I hope this time things will be different. With current laws favoring the position of the NRA and other gun owners, a new course of action is needed.

To commemorate National Vietnam War Veterans Day, the following resolution will be adopted by county, city, and/or school boards/councils in March. On March 29 at 1 p.m., we will again honor our Vietnam veterans and their families with various Department of Defense memorabilia at the Solano County Office of Education, 5100 Business Center Drive, Fairfield.

Although I understand Carol Pearlman’s (“No soap radio”) concerns about the demographics of Michael Krasny’s Forum in Vallejo, I think the audience reflected NPR’s disproportionately white listeners, more than it implied anything about Vallejo.

WASHINGTON — What would it take for Republicans to turn against Donald Trump? Now, finally, we know. For nearly three years, Republican lawmakers have stood with Trump, offering only isolated protest, through all manner of outrage.

I am writing to address the incident of a child being slapped by a special education substitute teacher. We don’t know all the details as to what really happened. It was indicated that a child began throwing chairs and desks around the classroom and the teacher did what she may have “thought” was the thing to do: Attempt to stop him from hurting the other children and even the child in question.

Unable to attend the NPR forum at the Empress on Tuesday, I listened to it on the radio. I called from the freeway but the connection was bad and I couldn’t get on. I wanted to thank Michael Krasny for expressing surprise by the sea of white faces of the audience in the most diverse city in the country.

The League of Women Voters Benicia (LWV Benicia) would like to congratulate Benicia High School for its outstanding achievements in student civic engagement. The LWV Benicia has been active in their program for several years, going into senior government classes to explain the voting process and register students to vote.

Over much time I have heard very many pros and cons about this project. This is not to take issue with all that has been written to date, but just to bring to the attention of all the parties concerned that approving this project will identify Vallejo as a heavy industrial town for probably the next 30 years — if not longer for many people who are unable to separate Vallejo from Mare Island.

Benicia deserves better health and safety protection from potentially dangerous industrial mishaps and toxic emissions. For those industries, like Valero, that are proud of their safety record, additional oversight should be welcomed and encouraged for those living within the periphery of their operations.

I have been writing about this subject for well over half of a decade, and it feels surreal to write this letter now. I don’t think I could put everything into words that I would like to say, but I will say what must be said.

The looney left is at it again, and dragging the sometime conservative president Trump along with them. This time gun control aims at 18-20 year-olds who should not be able to purchase rifles. We shouldn’t overlook the hidden statements such as “can’t shoot rifles, borrow rifles, or be near rifles” appearing right after we must “pass the bill to know what is in it” gets disclosed.

I am writing to sincerely thank the Vallejo Times-Herald for its unbiased handling of non-establishment politics. As a Green Party candidate, and political outsider, I have found my access to media coverage severely restricted.

In a letter to the Opinion page, David Kishineff recently challenged U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson to an open debate for his seat in Congress. Mr. Kishineff is running as the Green Party candidate. While praising Rep.

WASHINGTON — Whom the gods would destroy, they first make toil for Donald Trump. Jeff Sessions had been a four-term U.S. senator, had served as the top Republican on important committees and had a strong following among hardcore conservatives.

In the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school massacre, the nation should look past President Trump and the gun lobby’s false narrative of competing alternatives. Making the country safer doesn’t require keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill rather than banning assault weapons.

In case you missed this news nugget, Mike Jeffcoat, the coach at Texas Wesleyan University, has been fired after saying in an email to a Colorado high school prospect that the university no longer recruits players from the state due to failed drug tests.

WASHINGTON — The ceaseless barrage of news — both real and fake — from the Trump administration can be numbing, so it’s important to step back every once in a while and look at the big picture: Never have we seen such utter chaos and blatant corruption.

William Cody, American frontiersman-turned-showman, had achieved worldwide fame and was the subject of countless dime novels and newspaper puff pieces when he brought his thrilling “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” to Vallejo in 1902.

An open letter to U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson: I am your Green Party opponent, and I am challenging you to a public debate. Come defend your policy decisions before your constituents. The people deserve, and are entitled to a congressional debate.

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! Vallejo is the elbow in the foodie arm of the Bay Area — San Francisco and Berkeley being the hand and St.

A recent letter writer asks if there has ever been a survey or poll taken on whether the VMT/Orcem processing facility should go forward. The only one I’ve seen was done last October on the Nextdoor Community site covering several Vallejo neighborhoods.

The winter months have provided California with little rain, making weather forecasters wonder and worry if this is the start of another drought. In November of 2016, as a member of the Benicia City Council, I voted along with two of my colleagues to increase the water and sewer rates over a five-year period.

On Wednesday Feb. 28, I opened my Times-Herald and read in bold print “Weekend filled with crime in Vallejo.” Wow. I have lived in this town since 1981 and I never before felt safer than I do now because of the fantastic job our police do daily — including involving the community with coffee with cops.

Just like last year, the White House has released a national budget proposal that drastically slashes foreign aid. What does this money do? For starters: It ensures that millions of people get treatment for tuberculosis, which is currently the world’s biggest infectious killer.

WASHINGTON — For a brief but glorious moment, we had Hope. On Tuesday, White House communications director Hope Hicks did what for the Trump White House was extraordinary, if not unprecedented: She admitted to lawmakers that working for President Trump required her to lie.

The worst social problem in America today could well be fatherless homes. While there are myriad exceptions, and while fathers in the home can be negligent or actively harmful, the statistics are overwhelming about how children can get cheated out of decent lives by their absence.

It is essential in our representative form of democracy that we, the public, take an interest and participate in our own governance especially at the local level. I would like to thank the Benicia chapter of the League of Women Voters for organizing and presenting its 13th annual Meet Your Local Officials event at the Commanding Officer’s Quarters on Feb.

Yes, we have had a mass shooting and we are engaged in the standard NRA struggle to restrict access of assault riffles and increase the effectiveness of background checks. But, this time I find myself feeling suspicious of their real purpose.